Handel - Semele
£26.55
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Label: SDG
Cat No: SDG733
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 3
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 2nd October 2020
Contents
Artists
Louise AlderHugo Hymas
Lucile Richardot
Carlo Vistoli
Gianluca Buratto
Emily Owen
Angela Hicks
Peter Davoren
Angharad Rowlands
Daniel D’Souza
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
Conductor
John Eliot GardinerWorks
Semele, HWV58Artists
Louise AlderHugo Hymas
Lucile Richardot
Carlo Vistoli
Gianluca Buratto
Emily Owen
Angela Hicks
Peter Davoren
Angharad Rowlands
Daniel D’Souza
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
Conductor
John Eliot GardinerAbout
A glamorous team of young soloists joins the Monteverdi ensembles to bring the story of Semele to life, including celebrated English soprano Louise Alder, who takes on the title role, with the young tenor Hugo Hymas portraying the amorous Jupiter.
“Semele’s musical score is a glorious blend of irresistible solo arias – some virtuosic showstoppers, others lyrical, sensual and evocative, ensembles, duets, accompanied recitatives and (unlike his operas) imposing choruses. Still more than when I first performed it and recorded it almost forty years ago, I feel Semele’s time has finally come.” – John Eliot Gardiner
Cast:
- Semele: Louise Alder
- Jupiter: Hugo Hymas
- Juno / Ino: Lucile Richardot
- Athamas: Carlo Vistoli
- Cadmus / Somnus: Gianluca Buratto
- Iris: Emily Owen
- Cupid: Angela Hicks
- Apollo: Peter Davoren
- Augur: Angharad Rowlands
- High Priest: Daniel D’Souza
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Act I: Overture
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2Act I: Gavotte
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3Act I: Accompagnato ‘Behold! Auspicious flashes rise’ (High Priest)
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4Act I: Chorus ‘Lucky omens bless our rites’
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5Act I: Recit., arioso & duet ‘Daughter, obey’ (Cadmus, Athamas)
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6Act I: Recit. ‘Ah me!’ (Semele)
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7Act I: Air ‘Oh Jove! In pity teach me which to choose’ (Semele)
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8Act I: Recit. ‘Alas! she yields’ (Ino, Athamas)
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9Act I: Quartet ‘Why dost thou thus untimely grieve’ (Cadmus, Ino, Athamas, Semele)
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10Act I: Chorus ‘Avert these omens, all ye pow’rs’
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11Act I: Recit. ‘Again auspicious flashes rise’ (Athamas) – Recit. ‘Thy aid, pronubial Juno, Athamas implores!’ (Athamas, Semele)
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12Act I: Chorus ‘Cease, cease your vows, ’tis impious to proceed’
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13Act I: Recit. ‘Turn, hopeless lover, turn thy eyes’ (Ino) – Recit. ‘She weeps!’ (Athamas)
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14Act I: Air ‘Your tuneful voice my tale would tell’ (Athamas)
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15Act I: Recit. ‘Too well I see’ (Ino, Athamas)
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16Act I: ‘Duet ‘You’ve undone me’ (Ino, Athamas)
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17Act I: Recit ‘Ah! wretched prince, doom’d to disastrous love!’ (Cadmus, Athamas) – Accompagnato ‘Wing’d with our fears and pious hate’ (Cadmus)
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18Act I: Chorus ‘Hail Cadmus, hail!’
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19Act I: Air & chorus ‘Endless pleasure, endless love’ (Augur, Chorus)
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20Act II: Sinfonia
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21Act II: Recit. ‘Iris, impatient of thy stay’ (Juno, Iris)
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22Act II: Air ‘There, from mortal cares retiring’ (Iris) – Recit. ‘No more, I’ll hear no more’ (Juno)
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23Act II: Accompagnato ‘Awake, Saturnia, from thy lethargy!’ (Juno) – Recit. ‘Hear, mighty queen, while I recount’ (Iris) – Accompagnato ‘With adamant the gates are barr’d’ (Iris)
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24Act II: Air ‘Hence, Iris, hence away’ (Juno)
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25Act II: Air ‘Come, zephyrs, come while Cupid sings’ (Cupid)
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26Act II: Air ‘Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me’ (Semele)
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27Act II: Air ‘Lay your doubts and fears aside’ (Jupiter)
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28Act II: Recit. ‘You are mortal and require’ (Jupiter)
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29Act II: Air ‘With fond desiring’ (Semele)
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30Act II: Chorus ‘How engaging, how endearing’
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31Act II: Recit. ‘Ah me!’ – ‘Why sighs my Semele?’ (Semele, Jupiter)
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32Act II: Air ‘I must with speed amuse her’ (Jupiter)
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33Act II: Chorus ‘Now Love that everlasting boy invites’
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34Act II: Recit. ‘By my command’ (Jupiter, Semele)
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35Act II: Air ‘Where’er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade’ (Jupiter)
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36Act II: Recit. ‘Dear sister, how was your passage hither?’ (Semele, Ino)
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37Act II: Air ‘But hark! the heav’nly sphere turns round’ (Ino)
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38Act II: Duet ‘Prepare then, ye immortal choir’ (Semele, Ino)
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39Act II: Chorus ‘Bless the glad earth with heav’nly lays’
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40Act III: Sinfonia
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41Act III: Accompagnato ‘Somnus, awake’ (Juno, Iris)
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42Act III: Air ‘Leave me, loathsome light’ (Somnus)
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43Act III: Recit. ‘Dull God, canst thou attend the water’s fall (Iris, Juno)
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44Act III: Air ‘More sweet is that name’ (Somnus)
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45Act III: Recit. ‘My will obey’ (Juno, Somnus)
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46Act III: Duet ‘Obey my will, thy rod resign’ (Juno, Somnus)
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47Act III: Air ‘My racking thoughts by no kind slumbers freed’ (Semele)
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48Act III: Recit. ‘Thus shap’d like Ino’ (Juno, Semele)
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49Act III: Air ‘Myself I shall adore’ (Semele)
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50Act III: Recit. ‘Be as wise as you are beautiful’ (Juno, Semele) – Accompagnato ‘Conjure him by this oath’ (Juno)
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51Act III: Air ‘Thus let my thanks be paid’ (Semele)
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52Act III: Recit. ‘Rich odours fill the fragrant air’ (Juno, Semele)
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53Act III: Air ‘Come to my arms, my lovely fair’ (Jupiter)
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54Act III: Recit. ‘O Semele!’ (Jupiter) – Air ‘I ever am granting’ (Semele)
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55Act III: Recit. ‘Speak, speak your desire’ (Jupiter, Semele) – Accompagnato ‘By that tremendous flood, I swear’ (Jupiter) – Recit. ‘You’ll grant what I require?’ (Semele, Jupiter) – Accompagnato ‘Then cast off this human shape which you wear’ (Semele)
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56Act III: Air ‘Ah, take heed what you press’ (Jupiter)
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57Act III: Air ‘No, no, I’ll take no less’ (Semele)
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58Act III: Accompagnato ‘Ah, whither is she gone, unhappy fair?’ (Jupiter)
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59Act III: Air ‘Above measure’ (Juno)
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60Act III: Accompagnato ‘Ah me! Too late I now repent’ (Semele)
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61Act III: Chorus ‘O terror and astonishment’
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62Act III: Recit. ‘How I was hence remov’d’ (Ino, Cadmus, Athamas)
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63Act III: Air ‘Despair no more shall wound me’ (Athamas)
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64Act III: Recit. ‘See from above the bellying clouds descend’ (Cadmus)
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65Act III: Sinfonia
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66Act III: Accompagnato ‘Apollo comes, to relieve your care’ (Apollo)
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67Act III: Chorus ‘Happy, happy shall we be’
Europadisc Review
In fact, the few performances of Semele in Handel's lifetime were given ‘in the manner of an oratorio’, or in other words without stage action: ‘concert performances’ in modern parlance. By the time Handel composed Semele (in just a month and a day in summer 1743), he had left the notorious rivalries and politicking of London’s Italian operatic scene behind him and formed his own hand-picked company based at Covent Garden, giving performances of oratorios in the English language. Usually these were of pious, Old Testament stories ideal for the Lenten oratorio season. But Semele was a radical departure, setting a libretto by William Congreve that had first been prepared for setting by John Eccles, a work that had to wait until the mid-twentieth century for its eventual premiere. For Handel’s more ambitious purposes, Congreve’s libretto was expanded (from his own works and others), and the result is an opera in all but name. It has a ‘profane’ subject taken from Ovid, with recitatives, accompagnatos, arias, duets, even a quartet, that are in a decidedly the operatic vein; and, crucially, it contains several fine choruses, of the sort familiar from Handel’s oratorios but absent from his Italian operas. Still, the operatic flavour of Semele is unmistakable, and it divided opinion among contemporary audiences, among whom many felt its mixture of secular sensualism and moments of comedy wholly inappropriate for performance during Lent. It was this reception, and Handel’s decision thereafter to concentrate his energies on sacred oratorios, that led to its virtual neglect until the twentieth century.
The story centres on the tale of Semele, daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes. She is loved by Jupiter in human guise, but is betrothed to Athamas, Prince of Boeotia. At the temple of Juno, signs are auspicious ahead of the marriage, but Semele is reluctant, and proceedings are interrupted by Jupiter’s thunderbolts. The wedding is abandoned, and Semele is carried away by a swooping eagle – Jupiter in disguise. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, is understandably furious, and it is her jealousy as well as Semele’s fateful ambition and vanity that drive the drama. Tricked by a disguised Juno to ask Jupiter to appear to her in his true form, she is consumed by the fiery thunderbolts that are his divine essence. Her sister Ino marries Athamas, while Semele’s child by Jupiter, Bacchus, will arise from her ashes as a god ‘more mighty than Love’.
Handel treats the unfolding drama with consummate skill, and while the orchestration is for the most part restrained, the characterisation of the various roles is masterly and full of emotional understanding. One of the principal attractions of this new set is the casting of soprano Louise Alder as Semele (a role originally designed for the great Francesina). Alder is better known for performances of Richard Strauss and Britten, but she shows herself to be a Handelian of great distinction, not least in her central aria ‘With fond desiring’ (which must have scandalised some contemporary audiences), the radiantly upbeat ‘Myself I shall adore’ or her show-stopping ‘No, no, I’ll take no less’ from Act 3. Unsurprisingly, her gentler numbers, ‘Oh Jove! In pity teach me’ (Act 1) and ‘My racking thoughts’ (Act 3) demonstrate an enviable ease with shaping longer lines. The other star is the Juno of French mezzo Lucile Richardot (who also doubles as Ino), a richly characterful and entertaining performance which lays bare the near-insane jealousy of the wronged goddess, while bringing out the more compassionate qualities of her human alter ego.
Tenor Hugo Hymas makes an impressive and highly sympathetic Jupiter, above all in his famous Act 2 aria ‘Where’er you walk’: this is a god with very human feelings and foibles, who is obviously upset as Semele’s inevitable fate becomes apparent to him. Countertenor Carlo Vistoli is well-cast as the confused and abandoned Athamas, his Act 1 aria ‘Your tuneful voice’ highly expressive, with a gorgeously rich lower register. Bass Gianluca Buratto is a suitably regal Cadmus, but he really steals the show in his other role as Somnus, the comically lethargic god of sleep in Act 2. Soprano Emily Owen makes a fine Iris (Juno’s Olympian sidekick), while Angela Hicks is a splendidly boyish Cupid, and baritone Dan D’Souza an imposing High Priest.
Gardiner paces and shapes the work with all the certainty and command of one who has known this music in depth for the best part of four decades. He knows exactly when to give music and singers the space they need, and when to drive them on, as well as all the tricks of the trade when it comes to bringing out prodigious Handel’s word-painting. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are on tip-top form, and the audience obviously enjoy themselves hugely, adding enormously to the sense of dramatic involvement, just as the dryish recording emphasises the work’s essential theatricality. As always, the SDG production is handsome, with excellent documentation and full English text, as well as photographs from the same team’s performances in Rome, Paris, Barcelona and London. These days Gardiner may be better known for his Bach as well as his ventures into Classical and Romantic repertoire, but his gifts as an exponent of Handel have always been exceptional, and are revealed here at their finest. If any recording can convince you of Semele’s greatness, this is it.
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